Knights remain undefeated in region play

Drophead

Cam Turner told his Windsor Forest girls' soccer team it needed to control the ball and keep moving forward in order to beat Jenkins Thursday night.

The Knights did just that for most of the game, coming away with a 2-1 win in a key Region 3-AAAAA game.

With the win, the Knights improved to 6-0 in region play and handed Jenkins its first region loss.

"I think we controlled about 75 percent of the game, and we kept them from having much offense," Turner said. "Our main concern was shutting down Lily Futrell, and Catherine Cawley, Courtney Cawley and Ashley Shiver did a good job of that tonight."

Windsor Forest (11-1) outshot the Warriors, 10-1, in the first half, including a shot by Alana Griner in the first minute.

After that, the Knights kept the pressure on, forcing Jenkins goalkeeper Samantha Connelly to make seven saves in the first half alone.

But Tori Futrell played nearly perfectly from the sweeper position, helping Connelly hold off the Knights and forging a scoreless tie at the half.

"Last year was a hard-fought game, and we came out on top," Turner said. "We really thought that we had a good chance if our midfield and forwards played well, but we missed some point-blank shots in the first half that would have really helped us."

The second half began the same way-with Windsor Forest in control.

Five minutes into the half, Griner laced a ball into the middle of the goalkeeper's box, and Tori Richter sent it home for a 1-0 lead.

About 10 minutes later, Griner hit one from 18 yards out to give the Knights a 2-0 cushion.

"We had some problems with intensity earlier in the season, but we really picked it up tonight," said Griner. "I'm just so proud of our team, and happy to have won, because we wanted to win this game really bad."

The Warriors (8-2-2, 5-1) finally began to put some offense together in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Lily Futrell took advantage of a direct kick from just outside of the penalty box with approximately 10 minutes left in the game to score the Warriors' only goal.

"They were more ready to come out and win the ball, and we really didn't catch fire until it was too late," said Jenkins assistant coach Richard Copeland. "I don't think we played the game we're capable of, but I can't take anything away from Windsor Forest, because they put the ball in the net and their goals were nice."

The win puts Windsor Forest in control in the race for the region crown.

Jenkins has games left against Glynn Academy, also undefeated in the region as of Thursday, Camden County and Groves.

Windsor Forest, meanwhile, still must face Camden County before traveling to face the Red Terrors on April 21.